DON'T FORGET YOU ASKED FOR THIS!!!

My mother LOVED to sing, and had an excellent voice for the 'standards' .. Bill Bailey, Darktown Strutter's Ball, You're Nobody 'Till Sombody Loves You, etc. .. She also loved to sing Italian songs like Mala Femmina ...
My parents loved going out to clubs to hear different bands, and invariably my father, who was her GREATEST fan, would ask the band members if she could sing a song ... She often sang with Lou Monte, early his career ...
Well, at some point, they heard this Country Western group (she obviously loved ALL types of music) and they would go to hear them regularly ... They got real friendly with the band, and one of the guitar players suggested that I start taking guitar lessons ... I was about 13 yrs old at the time... There was also an accordion player in that group who they were friendly with and he convinced them that I should study accordion ... I had two lessons on guitar when it was decided that I would change to accordion ...
After a year or two, while I enjoyed playing, I hated to practice, so I quit taking lessons, to the disappointment of my parents and teacher ... My teacher had become a really close friend of the family by this time, so we saw him often ... When he heard that I still 'playing', he suggested that my parents not allow me to unless I went back to studying ... After a year layoff from 'lessons' I went back and have NEVER regretted it ... The music studio became a focal point of my life, spending hours a day there after school, practicing with others, listening to others play, and also listening to the various instructors as they were giving lessons to others... I even became an instructor myself.
One of the biggest benefits is that I met a girl at the music studio who later became my wife, now of 41 years ...

I went into the US Army Reserves in '62 because we were planning to getting married.
I was in 'boot camp' and I was summoned to the Captain's office. Fearing what I could have done in the two weeks I was in service I reported to him and he asked if I could play the glockenspiel ... my immediate thought was "what the heck is that???" ... When I realized what it was I said "If it looks like a keyboard, I can play it" ... Well, the Captain had played the glock in his University band, so the pressure was on ... We started a Company marching band, and it was GREAT ... NO KP, no guard duty, nothing, because we were 'the band' and had to rehearse ... We ended up with 16 guys and along with the standard marching songs we used to play standard 'jazz' tunes as well ... It was really a blast ... We developed a reputation throughout the Camp (Ft. Dix, NJ) and once the Camp Commander was riding by while we were marching and got out of his car just to listen to us ...

My accordion teacher was THE major influence in my musical life, and actually was a mentor for me in other aspects of life as well ...

Musically, I have appreciated MOST kinds of music, from classical, jazz, pop, standards, big band, and yes, even country ...

I LOVE the piano, and while I've played some acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, etc. the accordion still has a very special place in my heart ... I often utilize the accordion sounds of the kn6000 while playing bossas, standards, etc. ...

t.